Put Trust in Star Names

By GARETH DEIGHAN

THE Who’s Roger Daltry and comedian Vic Reeves were among the big names who wowed crowds at the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concert.

Rockstar Roger and funnyman Reeves headlined the event, which took place at the Sage Gateshead on Saturday night.

Jimmy Nail, comedians John Thompson and Gavin Webster, as well as Jill Halfpenny and Roland Gift also played their part.

Dan Atkinson, 15, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, has been undergoing treatment at Newcastle General Hospital for a brain tumour over the past three months.

And he was one of the patients who volunteered to help film the show for the official DVD.

He said: "They were just looking for people and I volunteered to help out. I’d had no previous experience, but we rehearsed for three days before the concert.

"I knew who Roger Daltry was and he was the person that I was most looking forward to meeting.

"But it’s my mam and dad who listen to him. When it’s on I tend to try and avoid it!

"I was really excited about meeting everyone who was going to be involved in the concert."

And 24-year-old Stew Simpson, from Crawcrook, Gateshead, who has been in remission with bone cancer Osteosarcoma for more than three years, helped out with the cameras for the second time.

He said: "It is class. I was asked to do it last year and had a great time so I was really pleased to come back and do it again.

"I had not had that much experience with cameras before so it has been really good."

The concert raised money for teenagers across the North East who have cancer, as well as helping to raise money for a new teenage cancer ward at Newcastle’s RVI.

A new six-bed ward at the hospital – which has already been designed – is expected to open in late 2008.

David Watchman is a day patient on the hospital’s current ward.

The 18-year-old, from Houghton, County Durham, who has leukaemia, said: "They just came around the ward asking if anyone wanted to be involved with the Cancer Trust event and I said yes.

"We helped to make a DVD of the concert which, I think, is going to be put on sale."

Roger Daltry, CBE, is the patron of the trust and has been the driving force behind concerts at the Royal Albert Hall for the past seven years.

He said: "Teenage Cancer Trust units give our teenagers the moral support to help fight this terrible disease. We need more of them so that every teenager in the UK can have access to one."

Last year, the TCT staged its first large-scale music event outside of London and the sell-out 3 Bandstand 2006 gig at the Sage Gateshead raised more than pounds 50,000 for the planned new unit.

Simon Davies, chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: "This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world and we are proving that just because you have cancer doesn’t mean you can’t make a positive and creative contribution.

"There was even one of our survivors performing on the night.

"The level of support and generosity we received from the people of Newcastle last year was unprecedented and demonstrates the commitment to giving young people with cancer the best possible chances."

(c) 2007 Evening Chronicle – Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.